What I say unto you I say unto all, watch. Mark 13:37

August 31, 2011

Pentagon Report Exposes China Menace

A new Pentagon report indicates China’s sustained military
investments are destabilizing and exposes the Marxist giant’s global ambitions.
The free world had better wake up to the security threat posed by this hegemonic
menace.

Last week the Pentagon issued its annual report to Congress,
which warns, “China’s rise as a major international actor is likely to stand out
as a defining feature of the strategic landscape of the early 21st century.”

But the report “mischaracterizes and minimizes that threat,”
according to Steve Mosher, a social scientist who worked in China and is author
of numerous books on the country. The report “does a disservice to the truth,”
Mosher said.

The truth about China’s emerging global threat becomes
obvious when Beijing’s intentions, behavior and military modernization are
properly exposed.

First, China’s intentions are global and offensive.
Constantine Menges wrote in China: The Gathering Threat, “In the
traditional Chinese view, the world needs a hegemon—or dominant state—to prevent
disorder. The Communist Chinese regime believes China should be that hegemon.”

That view was echoed in 2010 by Liu Mingfu, a Chinese senior
colonel and author of The China Dream. Liu said “China’s big goal in
the 21st century is to become world No. 1, the top power,” Reuters reported. The
Pentagon’s report stops short of that forecast but admits the regime
“anticipates becoming a world-class economic and military power by 2050.”

China’s latest defense White Paper provides evidence of its
global ambitions. The paper, according to the Pentagon report, introduces the
Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) to new global missions intended to grow China’s
influence, such as international peacekeeping efforts, counter-piracy
operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

These other-than-war operations are made possible by China’s
new investments in large amphibious ships, a hospital ship, long-range transport
aircraft and improved logistics. Such assets extend China’s global influence and
provide the PLA important expeditionary know-how and capabilities for future
operations.

China’s global ambitions are also evidenced by its increased
liaison with foreign militaries and increased joint exercises. Last year, China
expanded relations to 150 different militaries, which reflects an effort to
collect information and build partnerships.

Beijing’s foreign outreach includes more joint exercises. In
2010, the PLA participated in 32 joint exercises—up from eight in 2009—to
increase its influence, enhance ties with partner states, and provide
opportunities to improve capabilities and gain operational insights from more
advanced militaries.

China’s White Paper also announces the regime’s “active
defense” security strategy, which pretends to focus on defense and promises to
attack only if attacked. But Mosher says China’s use of the term “active
defense” is just a euphemism for the PLA’s “determination to strike first in the
event of a crisis.” He concludes “active defense” is “not defensive at all, but
is a strategy of offense and expansion.”

Second, China’s behavior has become aggressive, and given its
global ambitions, we can expect more bullying across all domains—land, sea, air,
space and cyberspace.

China is aggressive with Taiwan, a breakaway Chinese
democratic republic. Beijing intends to deter Taiwan independence through
intimidation such as the massing of 1,200 short-range ballistic missiles
opposite the island or through a threatened preemptive attack.

China aggressively responds to maritime boundary disputes
with Japan over the East China Sea and numerous countries in the South China
Sea. Beijing claims both seas, and since 2005 it has harassed foreign vessels,
including American ships using those seaways.

Beijing is very aggressive in cyberspace. In 2010, American
and ally computer systems were the target of many intrusions that appeared to
originate in China, according to the Pentagon. Those breaches were aimed at
stealing military-related data and the PLA’s cyber units are prepared to
“constrain an adversary’s actions” and “serve as a force multiplier.”

The report states China developed an anti-access ballistic
missile to prevent American aircraft carriers from coming to Taiwan’s defense.
The “carrier-killer” missile could also be used globally against America’s 11
carriers. The weapon is known as the DF-21D and has a range exceeding 940 miles.

China is developing a fighter aircraft that incorporates
stealth attributes for long-range missions against well-protected targets—read
American military facilities. A Chinese proto-type, the J-20, was tested earlier
this year, but the Pentagon does not expect it to achieve “effective operational
capability prior to 2018.” China has approximately 2,300 operational combat
aircraft and another 1,450 older fighters, bombers and trainers.

The Communist regime is developing a global expeditionary
capability. Specifically, Beijing is developing airborne early-warning and
control system aircraft that, combined with aerial-refueling programs, will
enable the regime to extend its naval air capabilities globally.

The PLA has numerous expeditionary forces, such as three
airborne divisions armed with modern equipment. But China’s most important
expeditionary tool is the aircraft carrier. Beijing recently sea-tested a
refurbished Russian carrier, and the Pentagon reports, “China could begin
construction of a fully indigenous carrier … which could achieve operational
capability after 2015.”

The carrier is the latest addition to China’s modern 274-ship
blue-water navy, which includes at least 60 submarines. China continues to
produce a new class of global-capable nuclear-powered ballistic missile
submarines armed with the atomic-tipped JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic
missile with an estimated range of 4,600 miles.

In 2007, China successfully tested a direct-ascent
anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon against a weather satellite. It continues to
develop and refine this system as well as other kinetic and directed-energy
technologies for ASAT missions.

Finally, China is growing its strategic missile program
backed by a developing anti-ballistic missile system. The Pentagon expects China
to invest considerable resources to maintain its nuclear arsenal, which Beijing
claims will never be used unless it is first attacked by atomic weapons.

But that view disputes a 2005 statement by Gen. Zhu Chenghu,
a dean at China’s National Defense University, who said that if the U.S. used
conventional arms on Chinese territory, “We will have to respond with nuclear
weapons,” according to the New York Times.

The Pentagon reports China added 25 new multi-warhead
road-mobile, solid propellant intercontinental-range ballistic missiles to its
arsenal in 2010. Beijing’s growing nuclear arsenal is kept safe in deep
underground bunkers connected by 3,000 miles of tunnels, a complex that until
this report was kept secret.

The Pentagon also for the first time affirmed China is
developing a nationwide missile defense system. Reportedly Beijing’s
nonexplosive, high-speed interceptors can hit missiles at heights of up to 50
miles. “In January 2010, China successfully intercepted a ballistic missile at
mid-course, using a ground-based missile,” according to the Pentagon.

China’s hegemonic intentions, aggressive behavior and
sobering militarization demonstrate an emerging, dangerous new global threat.
The U.S. and its allies must prevent China from becoming a global hegemon that
would use that position to push its Marxist ideology. †